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Is there a better software than openfiler to create a SAN
I got my raid arrays setup – using RAID 1 for operating system (OS) and RAID 6 for the rest of my drive volume.
Openfiler 2.99 is not going so well configured alsorts of different configurations but i have found that i cannot create or add volume, and also functionality is poor.
I found another software which is ownCloud which can be found on ownCloud.org is this worth having a try?
below is my setup –
Firstly i have a HP storage server which holds 12 drive bays that have each 146GB hard drive each.
Out of the 12 i would like –
2 disks – holds operating system (was planning to use openfiler) (raid 1)
10 disks – holds the storage which is resilient (raid 6) -
3 Replies
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Hi Ritesh,
Have you look into freeNAS?
For video editing, you could always give a try to metaLAN Server/metaLAN. This is our solution (I’m therefore biased). But this software turns a Windows server into a great cross-platform video SAN. It is easy to configure and you can request 30-days eval licenses to play with and see if it is worth it to you.
Instead of turning your workstation into a traditional file-server, metaLAN Server turns it into a shareable block-level server. Think of it as an iSCSI target with integrated arbitration logic. metaLAN Server uses the TCP/IP stack so performance is not dependant on SMB/CIFS/NFS or AFP protocols. Clients mount a local drive (not a network share). You can use 1GbE or 10Gbe; port binding; etc. You also benefit from a number of additional features such as bandwidth control to the individual clients. In addition to exposing your main volume that everyone can read/write, you can also use projectSTORE to create and manage virtual volumes. This is a great tool for use in a collaborative workflow or to work with Avid. It also integrates the cluStore technology that lets you dynamically expand the capacity of your server safely and easily (through unified namespace).
Bernard
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Hi Ritesh,
MetaLAN will be an excellent, easy to use shared storage software for both client and server in your application. I am not aware of any free SAN software that will work for you. You will also need some way to distribute to your client in some hi speed manner – a simple 1GbE ethernet switch, with a single connection back to your server will not be enough bandwidth for anyone to work.
And to get back to your actual HP 12 bay RAID array, even if you don’t want to be criticized, I can see that it is almost impossible to get replacement 146gig drives for this. Let me assure you that if you get this up and working, you WILL have drive failure, and you will need to consider where you will get replacment 146 gig drives to rebuild your RAID array. Your 12 drives, each at 146gigs will give you 1.75 TB at RAID 0 – this will be even less with RAID 5 or RAID 6, to protect your RAID. And I bet these are 1.5gig SATA drives, which means that you will NEVER get more than 200MB/sec total bandwidth on the system. You should use AJA System Test (free download) to test the speed of your array, before you get started with this project. If your overall bandwidth is too slow on your RAID array, how do you expect this to act as a server for multiple editing clients ? You have also not stated what editing software you are using, nor have you stated what compression codec your editors intend to use – is it ProRes422, DVCProHD, Uncompressed HD? All of these things are important, to see if your system will be able to handle what you intend to do.
Bob Zelin
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I HIGHLY recommend MetaSan… Tiger Tech is great and their customer support is second to none.
Jamie
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